When it comes to night coyote hunting, one of the best tools a hunter can have is a night vision rifle scope. Any coyote hunter knows that coyotes move at night and having the advantage to be able to see them in their nocturnal element is an enormous advantage.

The next few paragraphs will take a look at some of the best cheap night vision rifle scopes available on the market today. One thing to keep in mind is that these are at the lowest end of night vision rifle scopes and are not the best that you can get. However, if you are shopping for a night vision scope on a budget, hopefully I can provide some direction and you can get the right scope for you.

ATN Aries MK 350 Night Vision Rifle Scope

I just want to say ATN makes excellent products and you can never go wrong when buying their night vision scopes. The Aries MK 350 goes for around $500 and while it is more expensive than some other brands, it is still a great buy.

The MK 350 is a first generation night vision scope with 2.5x magnification. It weighs in at 2.9 pounds and is 10.8 inches long. One neat feature of this scope is the red on green reticle which improves accuracy and makes it easy to line up your rifle on a coyote. This scope has an excellent battery life at 40 hours and, like most ATN night vision scopes, has a 2 year warranty just in case of a malfunction.

Overall I have to say this scope is a great product for the price. It is not going to give you great detail at long distances, but anything within about 100 yards should be descent clarity.

Yukon NVMT Laser

This night vision rifle scope is also first generation night vision technology, but with 3x magnification. It is compact, lightweight, and features a lifetime limited warranty. This is basically a monocular with a conversion kit to fit a rifle. It includes the mount to fit on a rifle and a laser pointer on the side to act as a red dot reticle.

The NVMT is another great short range night vision rifle scope at an affordable price. While it doesn’t quite match up to the ATN MK 350, it is about $100 cheaper and can still provide for great night time hunting. Like with many other cheaper night vision scopes, this one requires close range before the object can be seen with clarity.

Sightmark SM16012

Like the Yukon NVMT laser, the Sightmark is a first generation conversion kit for a night vision monocular. It has a 24 mm lens with a 2x magnification and also has a lifetime limited warranty. You can buy this scope for about the same price as the NVMT. The Sightmark has a mechanism that will automatically shut off in order to protect the intensifier tube when it senses light.

Once again, this is another great night vision scope for a great price. Like the other, you have to be in close range in order for this to be effective. Anything beyond about 100 yards is going to be difficult to make out.

Of the three night vision scopes above, the scope of choice for me for coyote hunting has to be the ATN. It has the best features and produces the image with the most clarity. If you don’t mind dishing out an extra 100 bucks or so, I recommend this product. However, the Yukon is an excellent product as well and can be purchased for quite a bit less.